Tag Archives: Venezuela

Last Shabbat was Parsha Toldot. Genesis 25:19- 28:9. It talks about Yakov and Esav, when they were in the womb, born, the birth order (Esav first) and then the kind of men they each became. Esav, a skillful hunter and man of nature was favored by his father, Yitzchak. Rivka favored Yakov, who studied and basically stayed in the tents. Their desires were was different as the areas and activities they chose to pursue. .

28And Isaac loved Esau because [his] game was in his mouth, but Rebecca loved Jacob.

29Now Jacob cooked a pottage, and Esau came from the field, and he was faint.

30And Esau said to Jacob, “Pour into [me] some of this red, red [pottage], for I am faint”; he was therefore named Edom.

31And Jacob said, “Sell me as of this day your birthright.”

32Esau replied, “Behold, I am going to die; so why do I need this birthright?”

33And Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day”; so he swore to him, and he sold his birthright to Jacob.

34And Jacob gave Esau bread and a pottage of lentils, and he ate and drank and arose and left, and Esau despised the birthright

His game was in his mouth, according to Rabbi Chaim, Esav talked a good game, a real good game. He pretended to be a serious Torah scholar to his father, but he was far from it. You think Esav was worn out from working in the fields all day? Um, probably not. He raped, murdered, and he married pagan women who sacrificed to idols in the camp. Esav didn’t love G-d, he wanted to destroy G-d’s presence in this world. Rivka had grown up in that environment, her father and her brother Levan, were both devious and deceitful. You find out just how much so when Yakov goes to Levan to meet a bride. Rivka knew BS when she heard it, she’d been there and done that. Yitzchak grew up with the faithful and hospitable Avraham and Sarah, he had much better role models, but was more innocent. When Yitzchak’s life was growing short, he called his first born son Esav to him, and asked him to go get him some game and fix it the way he liked it. I’m guessing sautéed with onions, mushrooms and Tabasco sauce? But Rivka came up with a plan to get the blessing for Yakov. One thing I’ve heard is Yitzchak was not fooled at all, but knew that Yakov would be the better character for the responsibility of the birthright. But at any rate, remember Esav had sold his birthright to Yakov for a bowl of soup and some bread. Esav had no love of his birthright, until it was gone. If you’d like to watch a short video on the Torah teaching, one is here.

It wasn’t valued? I guess I might point out to people who think Jews shouldn’t have all of the land that G-d alloted that they might want to remember G-d takes a dim view on those that don’t value their birthright. A way of living that has been good, and has sown benefits and opportunity that some discard as of no value because they don’t see the deep gift it really is. Rivka saw the birthright for the thing of value it really was. Esav wanted to claim the blessings of the birthright, but he wanted none of the responsibility. She understood about deceitful people. She’d seen bad, and wanted no part of it.

Sort of like one of my friends in school, she is from the Ukraine, and another lady I really like that is in a Torah study class I like to attend whenever I can, is from Russia. And they have no problem telling me what it was like. You could not openly worship G-d, or openly be a Jew. When talking about recipes for Matzah, my friend from the Ukraine was telling me how they fixed it. I asked what spices they used? She said “Spices? What spices? It was Russia, we were lucky if we had salt and pepper! I didn’t know what spices were until I left”. I’ve also heard her talk of the “dental care” you get under socialized medicine. But, it’s all equal, everyone is equal, everyone gets equally bad dental care. What little there is available.

“This troubling turn highlights widespread historical illiteracy in American society regarding socialism and the systemic failure of our education system to teach students about the genocide, destruction, and misery caused by communism since the Bolshevik Revolution one hundred years ago,” Mr. Smith said in a statement.

Millennials are more likely to prefer socialism and communism than the rest of the country. Fifty-nine percent of all respondents chose capitalism as their preferred arrangement, compared to 34 percent who said socialism, 4 percent fascism and 3 percent communism.

Some of communism’s luminaries are admired by millennials. Thirty-one percent said they have a favorable view of Che Guevara, 32 percent Karl Marx, 23 percent Vladimir Lenin and 19 percent Mao Zedong. Joseph Stalin is viewed favorably by just 6 percent.

In the poll, only 33 percent of millennials were able to identify the correct definition of socialism. They fared about as well as the rest of the country, which only successfully identified socialism at a 34 percent clip. Gen Z, the generation after millennials, ―was the most informed group, with 43 percent correctly identifying socialism.

Of course, I also think their college professors, especially the “cool” ones and the mainstream media play a big juicy role in this as well.

Thus the popularity of the Socialist/Communist Bernie Sanders. It seems Millinials think there is a “kinder gentler” form of socialism available. Like maybe small c? I seem to recall barry sotero, or BS for short, thinking Hugo Chavez was just dandy.

The government’s desire to control and monitor all economic activity led to the approval of a mass of inconvenient laws, which became enemies of investment, production, and innovation. The Ley Orgánica del Trabajo is just one example, which banned outsourcing, mandated 90 percent of a company’s employees be citizens, and impeded one’s capacity to remove unproductive individuals; it harms the national economy as well as the working classes. Since that legal instrument came into force last May, it has become increasingly difficult to create a job in the formal sector of the economy, while at the same time the productivity of workers has decreased at an alarming rate.

The price controls (or price-freezing process) and the fixed exchange rate (established in February, 2003) remain as a policy, regardless of the fact that they completely distort our country’s economy and against all evidence of their ineffectiveness and inconvenience.

And the Millennials and Snowflakes said to the Capitalists, “Pour into me some of that kitty stew for I’m famished and let me go eat it in my safe space so that no one might say any names or things that I don’t want to hear. I don’t want to hear about G-d and his tyrannical demands. I want the freedom of socialism where Uncle Bernie and Aunt Hillary say we get college and health care for free. I want business to pay their fair share of 99%, because I need things I can’t find a job anywhere. No company has over 3 employees these days! This Capitalism is so evil! I just hate it. I don’t want to have to do all the things that bosses want to make me do. I want to find myself. But until I do, give me some pigeon as well. Birthright? Freedom? Liberty? Of what use is that to me. Behold I’m going to die.”